So I am kind of thinking of writing a self help book but I would like to share something with all of you wondering why you are having Fasciculations. Now, fasciculations and twitching are two different things. Fasciculations are say you look at your bicep and notice it is pulsating but your whole arm is not jerking about, just only the muscle is, that is a fasciculation. It is a tiny contraction of the muscle as it recovers from something. Twitching is like a whole body part jerk. I have had benign fasciculation syndrome for a little over a year now. It is finally easing up. Zoloft can cause fasciculations, and I started weaning down. I feel better/excellent weaning down. THe fasciculations are becoming less and less. I only get them maybe about 3 hours per day instead of all day long. Happens especially for about an hour after I eat, especially if I eat carbs. I think that is due to how food makes you absorb zoloft more. Also, I always get them in my hips after my daily walks... so I need to do even more stretching. THAT IS TOTALLY NORMAL. THAT MEANS you are healthy and active so keep it up!!!FASCICULATIONS ARE NOT A SYMPTOM OF MS AND ALS!!! THey only become visible after noticeable muscle atrophy, shrinkage, major disturbances of gait, stuff like that, and they usually never happen in MS, unless the MS patient is likely on an anxiety medication.I have 3 family members and friends also with MS so I do know what I am talking about. I work in the medical field so I do know what I am talking about.Fasciculations seem to be highly common amongst athletic people, people with celiac disease, and people on medications for anxiety.Fasciculations after a workout are normal. That happens if you do not stretch enough before the workout... even a simple 20 minute brisk walk will cause them if you do not appropriately stretch and warm up before the routine. Not enough carbs or dehydration, high protein low carb diets, electolyte disturbances will cause them as well. Make sure to stay appropriately hydrated and have enough carbs before your workout. IF you can't think straight and start feeling depressed, unlike yourself, and are an athlete, that happens when you do not consume enough carbs. Basically, you are starving your brain when you get like that. You may also get heart palpitations from that (the heart is a muscle). Even your esophagus may spasm (another muscle). You may start to have bowel problems due to disruption of the colon (muscles of the colon may randomly contract faster resulting in loose mucus stool or contract slower resulting in constipation). In celiac disease, a lot of weird things happens, not always bowel related, but more neuromuscular in my opinion. Fasciculations happen because in celiac, if the patient is consuming gluten, as the villi become destroyed, they will not be able to absorb magnesium. Magnesium makes muscles relax. Calcium makes them contract. Celiac sufferers have a lot of strange problems. ANything that can damage small bowel such as Crohn's will cause disturbances due to not being able to absorb vitamin b-12 and other vitamins/minerals. Being on a PPI longterm such as nexium may cause low magnesium levels as well. Patients on PPIs which is like the entire world in my opinion (and they do not need to be on these meds in my experience in most cases) should be having magnesium testing done routinely a few times per year and they do not. ANXIETY meds cause fasciculations. THey may lay on an "H" receptor and cause electrical random contractions of muscles.

Now in my case, I have all of the above working against me which is why I probably developed them, but for me, I think the main reason was the zoloft. ALso, I was doing a paleo diet a while with working out and then I stopped paleo diet after a month and ate carbs but very low carbs. There is a 1% chance I could have celiac disease but I do not believe so. I have duodenal lymphocytosis and crypt hyperplasia, so I may have a little difficulty absorbing stuff at times but i have no deficiencies and I do not carry DQ2/8 genes and TTG Iga and TTG IgG normal, thus, in my mind, I am not reacting to gluten. ANd my magnesium levels are fine. IN my professional opinion it is the zoloft. My PCP agrees as well. I have been on zoloft over 10 years, 50 mg. This all started about a month after I had stopped taking it and then restarted taking it (i just went off after like a 2 week period which was stupid but i just wanted away from it) along with 1 month of zanax usage, the low dose. I then also may have had salmonella (test was equivocal) and I had gotten norovirus (test was positive) same exact time so basically i was sick of a dog for a little bit and camped out in my bathroom lol.I also kind of believe fasciculations can follow a viral or bacterial infection, kind of like a post-infectious type thing, like say if the infection can cross the blood brain barrier as in lymes disease.

So there you have it. Fasciculations are no cause of concern. If you are getting them it is most likely due to not stretching before exercising and not consuming enough carbs, or from a medication you may be on. THe trick is to figure out a way to relax the muscles. Daily stretching should also greatly help. YOU HAVE NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT!!!!! TRUST ME!!!!!

Well a spasm is different than a fasciculation. THat spasm that happened an hour later was related to football practice. That means you need to stretch the tendons and muscles more and replace lost fluids. I can almost bet on that. Probably a little minor inflammation. Ice would help because they decreases inflammation. Heat also helps, too. You have to alternate between ice and heat to see which works best for you.

Okay. I've had a similar spasm when I was laying down in bed, but that would've been about 4 hours after practice. Is that still related? This is all new since practice started and also when my anxiety started.

Thx for your post. You said your in the medical field. I have two two herniated and buldging disks in my neck, one being the C6 which controls the biceps and wrist extensors. Since my injury these two muscles on my right arm have been fasciculating on and off for two months. There's no atrophy. It's driving me crazy. Have you ever seen anything like that?

Yes, cervical radiculopathy. You probably also have twitching in your thumb and index finger? That's because it's where the nerve path runs. So you need to decrease inflammation. Probably learning specific exercises and stretches will help you heal. Orthopedic stuff I don't know all that much about but yes a lot of patients with C spine injuries get Fasciculations particular to where the nerve path is impinged

Btw the spasms in calf when laying down is from electrolyte deficiency... You need more potassium and calcium. Anxiety is a really bad feeling when electrolytes get low. That's probably why. All this started with football workouts... You need more electrolytes to make the anxiety and muscle spasms stop.

I drink Gatorade a couple of times a week. What else is a good source of electrolytes? I'm drinking a good amount of water, getting no sleep though. Maybe that's contributing? I did stop drinking milk though for the most part, Dr. said not to ingest a lot of dairy during my allergy season. So maybe that's the lack of calcium? I am taking a multivitamin though also.

You can get calcium from almond milk as that is lactose free. Fortified cereals are good for minerals like Cheerios and rice chex. Spinach is good. Bananas are good sources of potassium. How tall are you and how much do u weigh? When u have the football sessions are you dripping wet with sweat when u leave? I'll calculate how many calories u need per day during these sessions.

5"8. 16 years old. 140 lbs. Depends on the day, sometimes I'm sweating to the point where I'm dripping, other days I'll break a decent sweat but not sweating beads or anything. All depends on what we do that day. Usually though, I'm not dripping wet with sweat.

ok so you need about 2800 to 2850 calories per day. ON days you do football you need to increase that by 500 calories. So the days you do football you should be consuming at least 3,300 calories but i would do more like 3,500 calories just to play it safe because I am only guessing of how hard you are working out. That's a lot of calories and I bet you were not consuming enough. Have you been losing weight? IF so, then yes, you were not consuming enough calories. Now, make the calories count and chose whole fresh foods and not refined white flours, soda, candy, refined sugars, crap like that. THose calories are useless and will just make you get a temporary sugar rush followed by a very tired sluggish feeling and also belching/gas/bloat. Lots of vegetables, fruit, lean chicken, fish, lean pork, and fresh whole grains are what you need. Of course, you are young, so you can have sweets too, but just remember they are empty non-nutritious calories so the bulk of what you need should be coming from fresh whole foods. On a typical day of practice, from the time you wake up to when you go to bed, record what and when and how much you eat, drink and what the food item is and how much of it it is. I can tell you if you are getting enough or not.

I began getting fasciculations 14 years ago following a long bout of epstein barr mono. I was a college athlete at the time and I played a whole season shaking like a wet dog.

It has not improved over the years. Some days are better than others. The worst part is sometimes going down stairs you can feel these muscle quivering that makes you feel shaky. Also after doing simple chores your biceps can start quivering or hands making it a nuisance.

I haven't lost any strength, or atrophy, but just have to deal with the shaking. I have tried yoga as it was recommended but the poses make the muscle quivering increase. I look like I am having full on spasms in some poses.

One more recent development has been that when I do physical activity, I am pretty wasted the rest of the day and I have really bad aches and pains that last for three to four days.

No doctor has been too concerned about all ofit and I know it is not MS. However, it is a pain and does effect the quality of my life which just adds to my anxiety and thoughts there is something more going on in my body.

Thanks for the post. About bfs.com is a good site for anyone experiencing these symptoms.